


Celestial War

by Marks



Series: Eclipse [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Kissing, M/M, SASO 2017, solar eclipse, sun and moon imagery, the first years are all friends!!, though they're second years here, tsukishima is a giant nerd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 08:48:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11870793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marks/pseuds/Marks
Summary: Tsukishima turns his focus to Hinata again. “Today the sun’s being obscured by the moon,” he says.





	Celestial War

**Author's Note:**

> Written for SASO 2017's Bonus Round 7: Free-for-all!
> 
> gionkenji prompted [this beautiful meme thing](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DHtypo8W0AEJ9hq.jpg).
> 
> uh shh the eclipse today isn’t in japan, but that’s okay. i couldn't resist anyway. also, i use the word syzygy and i'm not that sorry about it.

All through morning practice, Yachi has been looking from Hinata to Tsukishima and back with a worried expression on her face. Tsukishima has been trying to pretend this isn’t happening, but unfortunately he finds her the hardest one on the team to ignore. It’s something about those big cartoon woodland creature eyes and it’s annoying. Of course, Hinata’s oblivious.

Tsukishima sighs and jogs over to her on the sidelines. “What?” he asks.

“What what?” Yachi asks, wringing her hands.

“What do you mean what what?” Tsukishima says irritably. “You’ve been staring at Hinata and me like we’re about to jump each other.” He winces a little at his choice of words, but she doesn’t notice, which is good. Up to this point, Tsukishima has kept those cards _very_ close to his chest.

“Oh!” Yachi does a little side-to-side dance, like a kid who needs the bathroom. “It’s just – well, did you know there’s an eclipse this afternoon?”

“Of course.” Tsukishima is offended, honestly, that she’d even ask. He’s always up-to-date with space news.

“Well, it’s a total solar eclipse! The moon’s going to completely block the sun!”

Tsukishima stares at her.

“You know!” she says, insistent. “The _moon_ and the _sun_. Like you guys! So I was worried.”

“Yachi-san,” Tsukishima says, “you do realize we’re not the actual moon and sun, right?”

Yachi looks at the floor. “Of course I do.” She glances up at Tsukishima again. “But it made me remember when you didn’t like each other.”

“I still don’t like—“

“Tsukishima-kun, stop,” Yachi says. She puts her hands on her hips. “You’re not dumb, and neither am I. I just like it when we’re all friends, and I don’t like thinking about when you used to fight.”

Tsukishima clasps his hands in front of him and nods. “Okay,” he says. “I’ll try to resist starting a celestial war with Hinata.” He shoots her a little smile, reveling at the shock all over her face. “But just for today,” he adds.

Yachi laughs, covering her mouth with her hand. “Just for today,” she agrees.

*

“This feels a little uneven,” Tsukishima complains. They’ve broken into a scrimmage and, other than Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, all the second and third years are on the other team. Tsukishima can’t remember the first years’ names most of the time and now he has to support them in a practice match?

“Scared, Tsukishima?” Tanaka calls from the back row. Tsukishima narrows his eyes.

Ennoshita wears an innocent look, which is just such bullshit. Their captain doesn’t have an innocent bone in his body. “Can’t next year’s captain and vice-captain control an unfamiliar team?” he asks.

“We can do it, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi calls from the back row. Already, Tsukishima regrets giving in to his relentless _no one else can be my vice-captain you’re the brains of this team come on Tsukki we’re best friends and I totally don’t have you wrapped around my little finger what do you mean!_ campaign. He’s about as innocent as Ennoshita, the jerk. It must be a captain thing.

“Yeah, show us what you’ve got.”

Tsukishima looks down and finds Hinata beaming up at him, bright as anything, and the look in his eyes is just too much to deal with. He breathes out hard through his nose. 

“Come on already. Show us what you’ve got,” Hinata says again, low, a taunt only for Tsukishima’s ears. He knows this because Kageyama yells, “WHAT DID YOU SAY, DUMBASS??” and they both shoot Kageyama annoyed glances.

Tsukishima turns his focus to Hinata again. “Today the sun’s being obscured by the moon,” he says.

“What?” Hinata tilts his head.

Tsukishima adjusts the strap on his sports goggles and straightens his spine. “Watch out.”

*

Despite all Tsukishima’s big talk and Yamaguchi’s confidence, the scrimmage is kind of a mess. None of the first-years have gotten more than a few minutes of real match experience since middle school and their new backup libero doesn’t have half of Nishinoya’s talent, even though he’s gamely taken on the title of his disciple. But Yamaguchi is a calming presence, and whenever he’s serving and Tsukishima’s up front, they’re able to do a fair bit of damage.

Yamaguchi hits a great jump floater, far out of Nishinoya’s way, but Narita still manages to receive it. And Tsukishima reads what’s happening next – he can almost see the wheels in Kageyama’s brain moving. It’s usually the only time Tsukishima has a hard time keeping up with his thoughts, but it’s only a scrimmage and Hinata’s in the right place for a quick.

Tsukishima pulls the first year standing next to him close and murmurs, “On three.” The first year nods, face determined and, despite himself, Tsukishima kind of likes him for it.

They jump just as Kageyama tosses and Hinata flies. It’s a perfect toss, a perfect super quick, but it doesn’t matter; Tsukishima is already there, waiting, and the first year is up high enough to block any alternate spike. Tsukishima slams the ball down, right between the front and back lines and gets the point.

Yachi gasps and exclaims, “An eclipse!” from the sidelines as Yamaguchi yells, “Nice, Tsukki!” from behind him. By the time Tsukishima’s feet land on solid ground again, Hinata’s already staring hard and the look on his face is startling. The smirk Tsukishima would have shot him dies on his lips; he swallows hard instead, and it feels like a long time before they look away from each other.

“Okay, morning practice over!” Ennoshita announces. “See you all back here after school.”

*

Miyagi is in the path of the eclipse a little after lunchtime, and the teachers are apparently aware how little work can get done under those circumstances because they’ve canceled afternoon classes so the school can go outside and watch. Tsukishima has eclipse glasses, naturally, and he wordlessly presses his extra pair into Yamaguchi’s hands as the students all stream outside. Yamaguchi beams at him and, once outside, pulls him along to join everyone from the volleyball team.

Hinata and Kageyama huddle around a shared shoebox and argue over the best way to see through the pinhole. When Hinata sees them heading over, he shoots them both a huge grin and Tsukishima frowns. For once, it’s not out of habit, it’s just because he wishes he had one more set of glasses to share. Tsukishima sits on the grass and hooks the eclipse glasses over his regular ones, and after a moment, Hinata joins him.

“How much longer? Not too much longer, right?” Hinata asks. Tsukishima thinks he must be awful on car trips, then wonders why he cares so much what it would be like to share a car with him.

“About fifteen minutes,” Tsukishima says, checking his phone.

“You’re really into this kind of thing, huh?” Hinata asks. He scoots closer and draws his knees up to his chin, wrapping his arms around his legs. “Were you like that as a kid?”

“Tsukki’s always liked science!” Yamaguchi says, joining them on his other side. The eclipse glasses look ridiculous on him, and Tsukishima thinks he probably looks just as bad. “He’s got a telescope in his room,” Yamaguchi adds, leaning over conspiratorially. Tsukishima shoots him a dirty look.

But Hinata exclaims, “Oh, that’s cool! Can I see it some time?”

Tsukishima’s face heats up with the thought of Hinata alone with him in his room, the two of them leaning over his telescope together. “If you think you’re tall enough,” he replies.

“Jerkishima,” Hinata says, and slaps him in the thigh. Then the vice-principal makes an announcement that the peak is about to start and Hinata doesn’t move his hand. Kageyama comes over with his shoebox and Hinata waves him off, so Yachi shares it instead.

“Don’t stare directly into the sun,” Tsukishima warns, trying and failing to ignore the way Hinata’s fingernails press into his leg.

“I’m not,” Hinata says. When Tsukishima looks over, Hinata’s only looking at him, so Tsukishima can’t do anything but look up. The moon passes overhead and blocks out most of the light, but even during the total eclipse, the corona of the sun is still visible. 

It’s hard, Tsukishima thinks, to get rid of the sun completely.

*

“Can I talk to you, Tsukishima?” Hinata asks as they’re walking out of the clubroom after practice. He’s got that determined look on again and it makes Tsukishima dizzy whenever it’s focused on him.

Yachi waits at the bottom of the stairs and overhears him. “You’re not going to fight, are you?” she gasps. “Think of the truce from the celestial war!”

Hinata’s concentration is broken by that. “What?” he asks, striking a fighting stance. “You’d know if we were about to fight. If I was going to fight Tsukishima, it would be like _bam_ and _pow_ and –“

“And I’d hold your forehead so your little arms couldn’t reach me,” Tsukishima interrupts. “You’re like a T-rex.”

To Tsukishima’s surprise, Hinata laughs. “I’m definitely a T-rex,” he agrees, and makes his hands into claws, then drops them again. “So, can we go somewhere?”

Tsukishima hesitates, then nods.

Yamaguchi looks from Tsukishima to Hinata. “Should we wait?”

The determined focus is back again. Tsukishima stares at Hinata and shakes his head. “You guys go on ahead.”

“Okay,” Yamaguchi says, and he actually has to push Kageyama down the road as he asks, “What’s going on? What are they doing? Why can’t we stay?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Yamaguchi promises him. “Or Yachi will.”

“ _Me?_ ” Yachi says, which is the last thing Tsukishima hears before they’re out of earshot.

“Here, come on,” Hinata says and grabs the cuff of Tsukishima’s jacket. He lets himself be led until they’re behind the clubhouse and off the path, where no one can see them. Tsukishima’s heart is thudding hard inside his chest, and he really can’t believe this is happening.

Hinata leans against the brick wall and seems to be gathering his thoughts. 

“Do you know,” Tsukishima says, and his voice shakes – just a _little_ , but even that much is uncharacteristic. He clears his throat. “Do you know why Yachi-san thought we were going to fight each other today?”

“No,” Hinata says. “Why?”

Tsukishima shrugs. “Because of the eclipse. She guessed something was going to happen between us today.”

“Oh!” Hinata nods. “Sun,” he says, pointing to himself, “and moon.” He points to Tsukishima, but instead of dropping his hand, he presses it in closer until his palm is right over Tsukishima’s heart. “But I don’t want to fight you,” he says. “And you don’t want to fight me, right?”

Tsukishima shakes his head.

“But I want something to happen between us today,” Hinata confesses. “I have for a while. You too?”

Tsukishima nods.

Hinata takes a deep breath and nods, too. “I didn’t know until this morning when we were playing – you looked at me and – well, you really keep things locked up, don’t you?” he says. He curls his fist so he has a handful of Tsukishima’s jacket clutched between his fingers. “How come you didn’t know about me? I’m always watching you!”

“You look at everyone the way you look at me,” Tsukishima says, and hates how out of breath he sounds. He hates that he can’t look away from Hinata’s eyes.

“No,” Hinata says, and stares hard at Tsukishima, as if to prove his point. “I really don’t.”

Tsukishima wants to protest, but Hinata yanks him in hard until Tsukishima has to put both hands flat against the wall to hold himself steady, on either side of Hinata’s head. Hinata closes his eyes and shudders, letting Tsukishima close the last of the distance between them. Hinata’s mouth is so warm and he wants to kiss harder and faster than Tsukishima’s prepared for. Their kiss is like a dam breaking, water rushing over Tsukishima’s head and not knowing if he’ll ever get a proper gulp of air ever again. It’s not a surprise, really; everything about Hinata is overwhelming, after all.

What’s really a surprise is the way Tsukishima feels – how much he likes having Hinata’s hands on him, his mouth. How much he doesn’t want to stop, even though they’re just out back behind the clubhouse and there’s always the risk of someone taking a shortcut seeing them.

Probably if someone were to cut through behind them right now, all they’d see was Tsukishima facing the wall, Hinata completely hidden from sight – Hinata, Tsukishima, and the stranger in syzygy. But they’d probably know he was there right now anyway. Hinata’s hard to hide, hard to hide _from_ , and now Tsukishima knows he doesn’t want to do that anymore. Instead, he holds on and lets himself be the sun’s shadow.


End file.
